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I am an entomologist with a research interest focused on studying host-pathogen interactions and discovering insect-specific viruses. I have investigated gene expression and the role of small non-coding RNAs in various host-pathogen models, particularly in crucial agricultural pests and medically significant vectors like the Aedes aegypti, responsible for transmitting dengue and Zika viruses. My previous project, aimed at exploring the function of Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus in the biological control of the coconut rhinoceros beetle in the Pacific Islands, has substantially enhanced our comprehension of this invasive pest within the framework of an offshore biosecurity strategy. By establishing industry partnerships and securing funding to improve the Australian sugar industry, one of Australia's largest agricultural sectors, I have been able to focus on entomopathogenic viruses that affect root-feeding pests in sugarcane.

A/Prof Brett Ferguson’s research interest are in molecular genetics, genomics, genetic transformation and genome editing, such as CRISPR, to unravel the molecular mechanisms driving plant development. His primary focus is on legume crops, using biotechnology and bioinformatic approaches to identify key genes and signals controlling traits of interest. This includes the agriculturally- and environmentally-important symbiosis between legume plants and beneficial rhizobia bacteria that fix critical nitrogen for their host plant. In addition, A/Prof Ferguson works with the fascinating legume tree, Pongamia pinatta, which has tremendous potential as a feedstock for the sustainable production of biodiesel and aviation fuel.

A/Prof Brett Ferguson leads the Integrative Legume Research Group (ILRG) in the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences (SAFS) at the University of Queensland (UQ). He is an Affiliate of the Centre for Crop Science in the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), and an Affiliate of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science (CIPPS). A/Prof Ferguson is also a Chief Investigator in the large, multi-national Hy-Gain for Smallholders Project primarily funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The work of A/Prof Ferguson has contributed to the discovery of many new genes and signals, such as novel microRNAs and peptide hormones, that have critical roles in controlling plant development. His research group identified the complete family of CLE peptide encoding genes of several legume species using an array of molecular and bioinformatic approaches. Additional discoveries of genes involved in legume nodule formation, nitrogen signalling and the regulation of root development, are also having an impact in the research field. Many of these factors could be useful in supporting translational studies and breeding programs that look to improve crop performance. His work also established a requirement for brassinosteroid hormones in legume nodulation and demonstrated a central role for gibberellins in nodule development. Moreover, he contributed to some of the initial work reporting a role of strigolatones in shoot branching, and demonstrated that plants can transport quantities of auxin far in excess of their endogenous levels.

A/Prof Ferguson has also contributed to the developed of new tools and techniques, such as petiole feeding, precision feeding in growth pouches, stem girdling, pHairyRed for promoter-reporter fusions, new hairy-root transformation techniques, novel integrative vectors to enhance transformation efficiency, synthetic biology approaches to generate mature double stranded miRNA, etc.

Dr. Javier A. Fernandez is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Queensland. His research specializes in crop physiology, plant nutrition, corn production, and crop modelling reflected by over 30 articles (refereed journal publications, extension articles, conference proceedings, and others). He is currently engaged in the use of statistical, digital, and model technologies to assess crop growth and development, with the overall goal of enhancing production, resource use efficiency, and sustainability of agricultural systems in Australia. Javier received his BS in Agricultural Engineering from Universidad Nacional del Nordeste in Argentina, and his PhD in Agronomy from Kansas State University. He is recipient of several honours and awards from university, professional societies, and governmental organizations, including two Fulbright Commission scholarships.

Professor Mary Fletcher is a natural product organic chemist, and led the Natural Toxin group within the Centre for Animal Science, Queensland Alliance for Agricultural and Food Innovation (QAAFI) 2010-2024,before being appointed Emeritus Professor in 2024. She previously worked as a research chemist at both The University Queensland and Queensland Primary Industries (Biosecurity Queensland), before joining the Queensland Alliance for Agricultural and Food Innovation in 2010. Prof Fletcher's current interest focuses on bioactives that reduce enteric methane and the application of slow release delivery systems appropriate to rangeland grazing systems. Prof Fletcher has an industry recognised expertise as an applied organic chemist with a specialist interest in the identification and analysis of natural toxins and other bioactives in a range of plants, fungi and agricultural products. Such toxins and bioactives can affect both human and animal health posing risks to livestock production, food safety and market access.

Prof Fletcher is also an Affiliate Professor in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (http://www.scmb.uq.edu.au/index.html), and an Affiliated Scientist at the Biosciences eastern & central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) Hub in Nairobi, Kenya (http://hub.africabiosciences.org/).

Prof Fletcher is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and in 2016 was elected President of the Queensland Branch of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (http://www.raci.org.au/branches/qld-branch).

Marina Fortes has a degree in Veterinary Medicine (2004) and a Master of Science in Animal Reproduction (2007) from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She completed her PhD in genetics, in 2012 at The University of Queensland (UQ). For her PhD Marina had international scholarships from UQ and the Beef CRC. Her PhD received the Dean's commendation award. After that, Marina worked as a post-doc at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI). In August 2014, Marina joined the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (SCMB) as an academic and established the Livestock Genomics Group. As a researcher, Marina is interested in genetics and genomics, sustainable livestock production, and reproductive biology. Ongoing collaborations link her group to a rich research environment, both domestic and international, which contributes to sustainable livestock industries. Meat and Livestock Australia has provided ongoing support to the projects led by her group. For her work on the genomics of cow fertility, Marina received an Advanced Queensland Fellowship (2018-2021). Marina teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including the Livestock Biotechnology course (BIOT7038) within the Master of Biotechnology program. The Women in Science podcast - https://soundcloud.com/womeninscience - was produced by Marina Fortes, Marloes Dekker, and Kirsty Short.

Dr. Forutan is an internationally recognized Researcher. Her research area includes understanding the bovine genome and epigenome, discovering causative mutation underlying economic important traits such as fertility, understanding the way genes turn on and off, investigating different methodologies to improve the accuracy of genomic prediction, and optimizing methods for predicting genetic diversity and inbreeding. Her future research career vision is to make a significant contribution to creating new knowledge in the field of quantitative genetics that can help to improve efficiency and resilience in Livestock.

Professor Shu Fukai obtained his BAgSci (Biological Science) from Tokyo University. He then went on to undertake his PhD Studies at Adelaide University on a study of canopy photosynthesis in subterranean clover. This was followed with postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Davis. He spent 3 years at Macquarie University as a tutor in Biological Sciences. He then joined UQ as an academic staff member. Much of Prof. Fukai’s research at UQ has focused on crop physiological understanding of genotypic variation in abiotic stress resistance and of different cropping systems. During his time at UQ he has supervised many postgraduate students and has been the School Postgraduate Coordinator for the past 5 years.

My research focuses on the biological control and integrated management of insect pests. Understanding the ecological and biological relationships between insects and their natural enemies (pathogens, parasitoids and predators) and the interactions between these natural enemies is fundamental to effective biological control and is central to my research. Strategies which manipulate natural enemies to enhance their impact on pest populations are under development, examples include

• Integration of biological stressors and fungal entomopathogens for improved control of insect pests
• Reduced insecticide inputs combined with the provision of adult food sources to enhance endemic parasitoid performance
• Utilizing inducible plant defences to manipulate pests and improve the effectiveness of natural enemies.

Externally funded research projects concentrate on the development of sustainable pest management strategies for insect pests in developing countries. In Indonesia the structure and function of the natural enemy complexes attacking the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) and the cabbage cluster caterpillar (Crocidolomia pavonana) are being determined. In Samoa the biology and ecology of the egg parasitoid Trichogramma chilonis is being investigated and the possibility of its release as a biological control agent of C. pavonana in Fiji, Tonga and Solomon Islands explored. Research in Fiji is focused on quantifying field resistance of the diamondback moth to commonly used insecticides. An insecticide resistance management strategy has been developed and will be implemented in collaboration with UN-FAO.

I am a plant pathologist specialising in the study of fungal pathogens of all manner of plants from agricultural and natural settings. My research career has spanned various areas of interest from horticultural and agricultural crop diseases, the development of disease forecasting systems, the study of soil mycorrhizal fungi, the use of beneficial microbes in promoting soil health and plant disease management and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

A key area of development has been the investigation of dieback disorders of invasive woody weeds in the Australian landscape. This has resulted in the development of a bioherbicide for the invasive weed Parkinsonia and the establishment of a start-up company - BioHerbicides Australia (BHA). BHA now produces this bioherbicide (which is a registered product) and has developed a range of synthetic herbicide products along with the delivery technology required for field implementation. My research team bioprospects for new control agents for a range of woody weeds (there are many) and also explores the use of synthetic herbicides. My research takes me to many interesting locations in outback Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and New South Wales. I am interested in many weed species including mimosa bush, chinee apple, celtis, prickly acacia, athel pine, mesquite, leucaena, rubber vine and various cacti.

I have been Deputy Head of School (Gatton) since 2013 where my main function has been to support the HoS as we develop this school through a process of growth and change with recruitment of new staff, development of new processes and teams and create a true sense of collegiality across both campus locations. We have taken Agriculture at UQ from an international ranking of #7 in 2016 to #3 in 2022. Apart from administrative tasks, my key role is to support and develop new staff to settle into their academic jobs, assist them with achieving milestones and probation and manage their development of KPIs and career development.

Dr. Andrés Gambini graduated with honors as a veterinarian at the University of Río Cuarto, Argentina, in 2008. After a period on an equine farm, he completed a Ph.D. program at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and taught in Animal Production Department. His Ph.D. focused on in vitro embryo production in horses. He produced the first cloned horses born in South America in 2010 and Australia in 2018. In 2015, he started a two years postdoc at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in the USA, where he investigated mechanisms governing embryonic genome activation in mammals. Andrés was invited as a professor at the University of Torino in Italy and the University of Cordoba in Spain. He continues his research in animal cloning, ICSI, and other reproductive biotechnologies. He recently reported the first cloned zebra embryos worldwide. He stood as Assistant Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, providing more than twelve years of lecturing, and mentoring undergraduate and postgraduate students in areas of animal physiology and reproduction. Currently, he is a senior lecturer in Animal Science, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences at University of Queensland, Australia.

John is a Professor in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability at The University of Queensland, Gatton, Australia. John has 178 publications, in the areas of; impacts of harsh climatic conditions on livestock, physiological responses to heat stress, modeling the impact of climate change on animal production (beef, dairy, sheep), animal welfare and ruminant nutrition. He is part of an international team which has recently developed new thermal stress indices for livestock, a heat stress risk assessment model for feedlot cattle, and is currently developing a heat stress risk assessment model for dairy cows, horses and working dogs. His worked has largely focused on gaining an understanding of animal’s physiological responses to acute and chronic heat stress, the development strategies to ameliorate the impact of high heat load, and the likely impact of future climatic conditions on animals (domestic and wildlife). John is also part of a team investigating greenhouse gas abatement strategies for cattle, and has on-going collaborative projects with colleagues in the USA and India.

I am primarily a plant virologist but have has a diversity of research interests in mycology, bacteriology and even entomology as part of broader biosecurity projects. Living in Queensland has provided me the opportunity to work on diseases of tropical and subtropical horticultural crops such as banana, avocado, pineapple, citrus and sugarcane, and his expertise has been sought in developing nations throughout the world, particularly in southeast Asia.I strive to see fundamental scientific discoveries translated into practical outcomes for farmers. I also take a keen interest in promoting the profession of plant pathology through a previous role as President of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society, and my current role as Vice President of the International Society of Plant Pathology.

Dr Barbara George-Jaeggli is a Senior Research Fellow at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture & Food Innovation. She has a Master of Science degree in Biology from ETH in Zürich and a PhD in Crop Physiology from UQ. The main objective of her research is to improve the profitability and sustainability of dry-land agriculture by increasing cereal crop productivity per unit input. Dr George-Jaeggli is part of a multi-disciplinary sorghum crop improvement group based at the Hermitage Research Facility in Warwick who have assembled extensive genotyping and phenotyping resources. Sorghum is valued for its high productivity under hot and dry conditions and is an important summer grain in the broad-acre cropping regions of north-eastern Australia and a staple food crop for millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr George-Jaeggli’s team uses sorghum as a model to study the genetics and physiology of complex cereal traits, such as drought adaptation, canopy radiation use efficiency, photosynthetic capacity and yield. They have developed tools to measure these traits across thousands of field-grown breeders’ plots using proximal sensing platforms. Barbara George-Jaeggli is currently also the Centre Leader of Hermitage Research Facility.

Justine Gibson is an Associate Professor in Veterinary Bacteriology and Mycology at the School of Veterinary Science at the University of Queensland (UQ). She graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science from UQ in 1996 and, after working as a veterinarian for several years, completed a PhD investigating the epidemiology and basis of fluoroquinolone resistance in multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli and Enterobacter spp. from companion animals.

Assoc. Prof. Gibson's research focuses on antimicrobial resistance, stewardship, infection control, and point-of-care diagnostics to improve animal and human health in Australia and internationally. She has led projects investigating antimicrobial-resistant pathogens in companion and production animals, characterising resistance mechanisms using traditional culture and molecular techniques. Her work aims to translate pure research into clinical practical outcomes by merging pathogen identification and resistance mechanisms with epidemiological studies. Recent research has also explored the microbiota of wildlife, livestock and companion animals.

Passionate about teaching, Justine became a Senior Higher Education Academy Fellow in 2019. She encourages critical and independent thinking, fosters clinical reasoning skills, and incorporates eLearning pedagogies in her teaching.

Assoc. Prof. Gibson has authored over 50 conference papers and 70 scientific publications in bacteriology, mycology, antimicrobial resistance, stewardship and teaching.

Professor Mike Gidley is Director of the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences (CNAFS) at the University of Queensland, Australia. The Centre is part of the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) in conjunction with the Queensland Government. Prof Gidley’s research is focussed on structure – function relationships in biopolymer assemblies such as starch granules and plant cell walls. This has led to the detailed characterisation of starch and dietary fibre digestion/fermentation in vitro and in vivo, with the understanding generated leading to opportunities for optimising nutritional value of foods and feeds. He is also a Chief Investigator in the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls.

Professor Gidley was trained in chemistry at the Universities of London (BSc) and Cambridge (PhD), and worked on food-related research for more than twenty years in Unilever’s R+D laboratory at Colworth House in the UK, beginning as a research scientist and culminating as the Group Leader for Plant-based Foods and Ingredients, before joining UQ in 2003.

Professor Gidley’s major research interest is the linking of plant molecular structures to macroscopic properties with relevance to plant-based food properties. In particular, he is interested in investigating polysaccharide assemblies such as plant cell walls and starch granules, particularly the way these structures are assembled in nature and then disassembled during manufacturing and later during digestion. His field of research involves the use of spectroscopic, microscopic and materials analyses of natural materials and model systems. Insights into structure-property relationships are obtained, that can then be used to provide targets for raw materials and processes with enhanced food and nutritional properties.

I work at two universities: UQ and Yangzhou University, China.

Research on the relations between two glucose polymers, starch and glycogen, whose structure has major impact on nutrition, diabetes and obesity.

After many years in synthetic polymer research, in 2006 I took up a position at UQ to pursue my interests in the relations between human health and the structures of glucose polymers, especially starch and glycogen, which have complex branched structures. For this purpose, I have built on my knowledge of synthetic polymers. This has led to unique combined experiment and theoretical methods for characterizing the complex molecular architecture of these biopolymers; the target is biosynthesis-structure-property-degradation relations important for human health, and also new biomaterials. This research is leading to new methods for the control and mitigation of obesity, diabetes and colo-rectal cancers; these nutrition-related diseases are reaching epidemic proportions.

I am a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, author of 500 papers, 4 patents and 2 books (on unimolecular reactions and on emulsion polymerization). I was President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Macromolecular Division (1998-2001), Elected Member of the IUPAC Bureau (2002-5), was Chair (1988-95) of the IUPAC Working Party on polymerization modelling and mechanisms, and was one of eight members of the IUPAC Strategy Development and Implementation Committee which carried out a major reorganization of that body. I was Secretary of the International Polymer Colloids Group until 2001, and former Chair of both the Polymer and Physical Chemistry Divisions of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. I am a winner of a Sydney University Excellence in Teaching Award, was awarded the RACI Smith Medal in recognition of outstanding research achievements in chemistry over the past decade, the RACI’s Polymer Medal, shared the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering Medal in 1993 for my work in understanding polymerization mechanisms, the RACI Olle Prize in 1996 for my book on emulsion polymerization, the RACI Physical Chemistry Medal in 1998, the RACI Applied Research Medal in 2005, the RACI Leighton Memorial Medal in 2007 and the Australian Academy of Science Craig Prize (2010). I have been a member of the editorial boards of Carbohydrate Polymers, Biomacromolecules, Journal of Polymer Science, and Polymer, and was Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Polymer Colloids, 2003. I speak fluent French and German as well as my native English, and limited Mandarin.

Since 2012, I have spent half my time at UQ and half in China, under theForeign Experts program. The latter is at YangZHou University (which has one of the best 5 agirculture faculties in China). There is a strong synergy between my Australian and Chinese research groups, with each spending some time in the other location, providing a unique opportunity for my young Australian researchers to learn first-hand about research practice and culture in our largest trading partner; also, I have outstanding facilities there which are significantly used by my Australian research group and by other groups in Australia.

Professor Ian Godwin has over 30 years’ experience in plant biotechnology research, first undertaking sugar beet genetic engineering at Birmingham University in the UK in the 1980s. He joined UQ in 1990, holding an academic position in plant molecular genetics. In 2019 he joined QAAFI as Director of the Centre for Crop Science.

He leads research in the use of biotechnological tools for crop improvement, with emphasis on the sustainable production of grain crops. Major focus is on the improvement of crops for food, feed and bio-industrial end-uses. He has pioneered the use of GM and gene edited techniques in sorghum. Research projects include international collaborations with a focus on food security and plant genetic resource conservation with collaborators in Germany, Denmark, the United States, China, Ethiopia and Pacific Island countries. He is passionate about the public communication of science, and has spoken at many public events on genetics, GM plants and food, animal cloning, and the future of agriculture in a changing climate. In 2003 he was an ABC Science Media Fellow, and has appeared on ABC and BBC radio on numerous occasions.

His popular science book Good Enough to Eat?: Next Generation GM Crops was published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2019.

Wendy Goodwin is a registered veterinarian in Queensland and has worked for the University of Queensland as a clinical anesthetist since 2010. She received her veterinary degree from the University of Queensland in 2004 and in 2013 was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy by the University of Queensland for her research thesis ‘Studies of Alfaxalone in Horses’. In 2008 she was awarded Membership of the Australian & New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in Equine Medicine and in 2013 was awarded Membership in Veterinary Anaesthesia and Critical Care. In 2016 Wendy sucessfully became a Fellowship of the Australian & New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in Veterinary Anaesthesia and Critical Care.

Wendy is passionate about veterinary anaesthesia and analgesia and has dedicated the majority of her professional career to pursuing excellence in this field. Her clinical anaesthetic experience has covered a wide range of species including horses, small animal companion animals, farm animals, avian and exotic animals and animals used in scientific research. Wendy has a strong research interest and is keen to further explore research and development opportunities in the veterinary and medical sectors. She has papers published in peer reviewed scientific journals and presented her research findings at international conferences relating to veterinary anaesthesia and pain management.